Are Multipurpose Devices Better Than Products That Perform One Function?

May 12, 2013 4:03 p.m. ET

Some of the hottest consumer products continue to be Web-connected multipurpose devices, such as tablets and smartphones. Since the advent of the app store, there seems to be no limit to what these gadgets can do. Nothing is just a phone, a camera or a television anymore.

What happened to devices that do one thing but do it extremely well? Not...